Students at The Pine Ridge High School have decided that having the perfect prom isn’t the most important thing for them this year.
The school’s prom committee are going to donate a large amount of their funds to help maths teacher Charles Lundell, who has cancer.
“We all wanted to help Mr. Lundell out,” committee president Katie Buday, 17, told TODAY.com. “We have more than enough money for prom so we thought we could help him in his time of need.”
The vice president of the committee added: “Mr. Lundell really needs it right now. Prom is just prom.”
The members of the committee have raised around $13,000 which would be enough to cover for an average prom, but they plan to donate all the funds raised beyond the essential costs.
Mr. Lundell was understanably moved by their big decision and says he didn’t expect such a loving gesture from his students:
“I’m very humbled because I do my job and I don’t know that I have an effect,” Lundell told TODAY.com, on the brink of shedding tears. “It’s amazing. It’s almost surreal.”
Mr. Lundell has been a teacher in the secondary school since it opened 20 years ago, so it’s no surprise that he formed such an emotional bond with some of the students.
Two years ago, he bet the cancer in his tonsils. But now, Mr. Lundell has brain, lung and liver cancer and is fighting for his life.
“I’m gonna kick this cancer’s butt,” he told TODAY.com. “It’s not about me. It’s about living for them.”
